Darlings! I have some GREAT news to share. New girlfriends are coming to the blog this year. YAY! This new column – MAKING IT – will be weekly musings on making it in liberty, life and love and will be led by the lovely and ubber talented writer Kel Daroe. KD has been a long time reader and supporter of inspired by Beatrice Clay blog so when she asked if she could lend her literary talent and share the magic and misery (but mostly magic) of creating her beautiful life, I said HELL YES! Keep reading and you’ll see why.

Simply put, KD embodies what it means to be a soulful, seeking and slight stressed out woman creating her beautiful life one day at a time and I am so happy to finally share her with you. Grab your cup of hot goodness and let’s dig into KD’s first piece – Will you be my #Galentine Meet us in the comments and share your thoughts!

**hugs and hi5s***

Will you be my #Galentine?

Folks, winter ain’t my favorite time of year. I am a June baby. It’s my goal in life to live in a place where I can wear sandals and a mumu whilst drinking out of a coconut and still be considered sexy. That couldn’t be further from my life in New York, where my toes freeze in less than 7 minutes of leaving my house, and I really have to concentrate to not fall into the omnipresent trash on the way into a packed subway car that smells like Sasquatch’s wet feet. Yet, every time February rolls around, my insides feel like I am being tickled mercilessly, and I don’t want it to stop. Aside from it being the month that we reflect on the many contributions of my ethnic group to our national culture, past and present, it is also a time to be in love.

Yep, I said it. Be in love.

Wanting to be in love or being in love has, in a way, become its own lightning rod. In an era where women really do bring home the bacon and fry it too, it’s become a sign of weakness to admit out loud that you can think of no better way to spend a Wednesday night than to drink wine and smile until your face hurts, looking into the face of someone who truly cares about you.

But before you reserve tickets to see Fifty Shades of Grey—that’s not the love I celebrate most this month.

I love Valentine’s Day, but I love Galentine’s Day even more.

What is Galentine’s Day you ask? Truthfully, in my over 30 years on God’s green Earth, I don’t think I have ever had a significant other on February 14th (well aside from that attorney who broke up with me during a blizzard while we were vacationing in Atlantic City—but that’s for another post). That doesn’t stop it from being my favorite holiday. My best friends and I have always made time for each other on that day by dressing up, writing letters, crafting, dancing to Sir Mix-a-Lot, eating sushi, and dragging our men along to witness our sisterlove in action. The memories warm me to this day. It turns out sometimes I did have someone special, they just paled in comparison to the glow given to me by a night of fun out with my girlfriends. Most of those men are gone. My bestie (though living on the other side of the nation) is still here. She’s always here. She just gchatted me to place bets on the length of Suge Knight’s jail time.

Sisterhood is in short supply. If you turn on the tv, you see women tearing down other women’s choices from what their hair looks like to how many children they have. February 14th is a time to, however frivolously it may be, recommit myself to the notion that women are good, and pure, and meaningful. So let’s make a pact, you and I. Let’s agree to support each other and all our other sisters toward a path of light and love. Let’s agree to spend quality time, laugh til our sides hurt, and have the courage to give our honest opinions with care. Let’s agree to hold each other’s hands and never let go.

Let’s agree to be Galentines.

Let me know how you’re celebrating #Galentines Day this year! Tweet or IG me at @KelDaroe! I want to hear from you!

The reports via text and email have been steadily streaming in…VISION BOARD MAKING really hit home for all those who attended Beautiful Fun No. 2 earlier this month.

I am grateful for going with my heart and not my head on this one. I was so close to canceling the gathering mainly because I worked like a mad women all through the holidays and was just burnt out but then I started to color and cut out cute photo props and BAM! I was ready for some Beautiful Fun.

It doesn’t take much to make me happy.

Some delicious baked goods…

+ Some fine folks…
+ Some crafts supplies…

= Beautiful Fun.

We had a blast. The ladies really embraced the 8 Steps to Creating Vision Boards the Work I shared and ended up with some really amazing boards. I can’t wait for the reports to come rolling in by year’s end.

Taking time to plan and be intentional about your life is the kind of gift that keeps on giving. Two women who attended are gearing up to host their own vision board making parties for their circle of clients and friends this week and my heart is busting with joy for them.

Sharing is caring and with every Beautiful Fun event my intention has always been to create a safe and loving space where women can connect and create.

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I spent most of 2014 using my iPhone to keep me on top of my crazy schedule with mixed results. In 2014 I found myself painting and illustrating more by hand and something about pen/pencil/brush to paper just makes me happy. While I loved my handmade planner I knew for 2015 I wanted something a little more chic.

So for 2015 I am taking it back to the pretty paper basics. Meet my Kikki K Planner.

I stumbled upon Kikki K via Instagram and let’s just say I am so glad my birthday was literally a few days after I first learned of Kikki K. A birthday is a perfect reason to spend lots of coins on a pretty planner and accessories and thanks to the loves in my life I was able to get this gorgeous planner at no cost to me!

Since getting my Kikki K, I’ve been obsessed with Youtube videos and Pinterest images describing how best to “setup” my planner. Not to mention I’ve bought LOTS more planner goodies since then and even designed a few printables of my own to track my expenses. More on my expense tracker and the other printables I am designing later.

Would you be interested in getting the pretty printables I designed? Let me know in the comments.

The gold accents in this planner are just GORGEOUS!

I use my planner to track my personal, blog and biz lives. I include a simple todo list for my day-job but I see this planner as my planning system for my creative life and my day job is relegated to the tracking tools in Microsoft Outlook and my standard spiral-bound work notebook. At least for now it is.

I LOVE my planner and really want to develop a Sunday morning ritual where I review my goals for the coming week in light of my review of the previous week. I have lots of goals and intentions for 2015 and keeping on track and on top of it all requires something different…my Kikki K is that something different. I am so grateful for it.

Each week on Instagram I will be sharing my planner setup from the previous week. I like to decorate my pages after each day so things don’t get really pretty until Sunday so check IG on Sundays to see my planner pages from the previous week and the planner goodies I’ll be using in the coming week….wait until you see all the PRETTY WASHI TAPE…my collection is growing by leaps and bounds folks. #stationeryaddict #planneraddict #ihopeyouareready

How are you tracking your goals and intentions for this New Year? Have you ever used a paper planner? If so, please share your experience in the comments and dish about the pretty planner goodies you use to decorate and organize your planner.

P.S. The #plannerlife is so good I’ve even gotten my cousin and sister on board. My cousin is using the Arc and so far she is loving it. I am so grateful I was able to share something that is already adding tremendous value to someone’s life. 2015 is starting off great!

Darling, be a dear and share

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I am an artist, a writer and a brown girl sharing truth + pretty things for a beautiful life. I believe a beautiful life is within everyone’s reach; one just has to choose it and create it. More about BC

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